Improvement in automatic umbrella-runners



w. P. FERGUSON.

AUTOMATIC UMBRELLA RUNNERS. No.179,691. Patented July 11, 1876.

UNITED STATES PATENT (Demon WILLIAM P. FERGUSON, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN AUTOMATIC UMBRELLA-RUNNERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 179,691, dated July 11, 1876; application filed December 17, 1875.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WM. P. FERGUSON, of the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a certain Improved Automatic Umbrella-Runner, of which the following is such a clear and exact description that any one skilled in the arts may make and use the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings.

In my improved automatic umbrella-runner the retaining-spring is placed between the runner-tube proper and a sliding outside case, the space between the tube and the case beingjust sufficient to allow the spring to have the necessary motion. The two ends of the spring project within the runner-tube, so as to catch into two transverse notches cut in the stick, one to hold the runner in position when the umbrella is open, and one when closed, so that the two springs and stop-pin fixed into umbrella-sticks as now made, are done away with. The outside sliding case is so constructed that it acts on the end of the spring, which holds the umbrella closed, so as to raise it out of the notch in the stick, when the case is pushed up on the runner-tube, and raises the end of the spring holding the umbrella open out of its notch, when the case is pulled down on the tube.

Figure 1 in the accompanying drawing represents an outside view of my improved runner in position when the umbrella is open. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of same'in position when the umbrella is closed, showing the retaining-spring; and Fig. 3 is a cross-section cut through the line 00 w of Fig. 2.

a represents the runner-tube proper, provided with the notched ring a to which are hinged the ribs a a The tube a has two transverse slots cut through it, the ends of the slots being turned up, as shown at Fig. 3, so as to hold the ends of the spring I) in their place as they pass. through the slots. The spring I) is made of a flat piece of steel, with the two ends bent at right angles, and it is given such a curvature that when it is placed between the tube a and the sliding case 0, the two ends would project within the tube a, and consequently catch into the notches d and 01 out transversely in the stick d. The spring I)- is kept in its place by means of the turned-up ends of the slots cut in the tube a. Inside the sliding case 0 are two wedge-shaped projections, c and 0 which pass into openings made in the ends of the spring I), and thereby raising the ends ofthe springout ot'the notches in the stick (1, respectively, as the sliding case 0 is pushed up or pulled down on the tube at.

There are various ways in which the retaining spring or springs placed between the runner-tube proper and an outside sliding case may be operated by the sliding of said case, so I do not wish to confine myself to the particular construction above described; but

What 1 claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination of the runner a, the sliding case 0, provided with the two wedgeshaped projections c and c and spring b, with the notched stick d, constructed and arranged to operate substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

WM. P. FERGUSON. Witnesses: J AMES DONNELLY,

ALFRED SHEDLooK. 

